FirstCry to open its boutique store pop-up model across 300 franchisee outlets

The company has also built up an auto referencing system for its stores to stock inventory based on target group and purchasing power of customers in a given location.Payal Ganguly | ET Bureau | May 15, 2017, 09:07 IST

BENGALURU: Omnichannel retail player in the baby and kids segment, FirstCry, plans to introduce its boutique store pop-up model across 300 franchisee outlets by second half of 2017.

Started close to seven months back, the pop-up model currently contributes 30% in terms of online sales for the platform, said CEO Supam Maheshwari. The platform currently has over 450 mom-preneurs who run the boutique stores.

The company has also built up an auto referencing system for its stores to stock inventory based on target group and purchasing power of customers in a given location.

“We started with 6 boutiques a day and have now scaled up to 18 pop up stores daily, which translates into 1,000 new styles. The model has seen good uptake online and we plan to introduce it after discussions with our franchisee partners. This would also mean sharing data from machine learning on which products do well in their areas,“ said Maheshwari. He added that the company was already at the halfway mark of setting up a network of 700 stores with 300 outlets. The company had raised $34 million from Mahindra Partners, PE fund Adveq and Kris Gopalakrishnan in 2016 and has been in discussions for a follow on round of equity capital for the parent company, Brainbees Solutions.

The company had also consolidated its market position offline with the merger of Mahindra owned BabyOye chain of stores.

Brainbees which raised $70 million from SAIF, NEA, Valiant Capital and IDG Ventures before the round last year competes directly with HopScotch, backed by Facebook cofounder Eduardo Saverin.While HopScotch started with pop up store model on the platform, it has found it difficult to control burns and had let go part of its team earlier this year.